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Hu Jintao

Born in 1942 and Chinese president since 2003, Anhui native Hu Jintao had been posted to Gansu, Guizhou and Tibet during his climb up the party ranks, and first became a member of the Politburo’s standing committee in 1992. He graduated from Tsinghua University in 1964 with a degree in engineering. The Communist Youth League is known to be a staunch supporter of Hu. He retired as General Secretary of the Communist Party Central Committee and Chairman of the Party's Central Military Commission during the 18th Party Congress in November 2012, and expected to handover presidency of the PRC to Xi Jinping in the spring of 2013.

Pictures showing the usually stiff and expressionless President Hu Jintao making simple gestures of compassion while visiting his home area last week have won praise among a mainland public increasingly tired of entitled official behaviour.

From his speech at the 18th national party congress last month, it was clear that, for outgoing President Hu Jintao, fighting corruption was a priority. President-to-be Xi Jinping also appears to want to tackle the issue head on.

One of President Hu Jintao's greatest achievements during his decade in power has been the creation of a much stronger cross-strait relationship, one that is likely to last even after he gives up his last official post in March.

The months of speculation are mercifully over. Questions of whether there would be nine or seven are now resolved; who is in and who is out is settled. When the new Chinese Communist Party leadership walked before the world's press last week, there was a feeling of anticlimax. If Hu Jintao had wanted to create a process that ended up boring everyone into submission, it worked.

President Hu Jintao met new Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu in Beijing yesterday. Hu said China stood ready to work with Russia on bilateral relations and co-operation in key areas, and maintain military ties

As soon as Xi Jinping and the six other top Communist Party officials walked into the media limelight at noon on Thursday, many overseas analysts and media organisations immediately labeled China's new leadership line-up as being "conservative" and dominated by the "old guard".

Xi Jinping has shown the world that he is now in charge of the People's Liberation Army - chairing a special meeting of the Communist Party's Central Military Commission (CMC) a day after being put in charge.

Xi Jinping has been anointed China's most powerful man, as head of the Communist Party and the military, but Hu Jintao is still the country's president until March. So who is calling the shots until then?